Whether or not Bush and Cheney can, and should, be removed from office for the crimes they have committed (in particular the extrajudicial domestic wire-tapping of American citizens) is less important than that the Congress assures that these practices stop.
Clinton never admitted to lying under oath, Reagan never admitted to trading arms for hostages and knowingly diverting the money to the Contras. LBJ never admitted to faking the Gulf of Tonkin incident. George W. Bush has admitted to issuing illegal executive orders over thirty times and has pledged his determination to continue to issue more illegal executive orders. Nixon resigned, he didn’t pledge to burglarize more psychiatrist’s offices and plot to blow up more Washington thinktanks.
To deal with this problem, Harry Reid should demand another closed session of the Senate. He should then explain to the Republicans that the Senate must, on a bipartisan basis, make it clear to the President that his actions have been illegal and cannot continue. If the GOP members of the Senate do not go along with Senator Reid, he should bring all actions in the Senate to a halt. He should throw every procedural roadblock available to him in the way of anything being passed out of the Senate until Frist has to fold.
It’s a simple act. It must be done. A line in the sand has been drawn.
